Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt (AAU)

The Alpen-​Adria-​Universität Kla­gen­furt has been future­ori­ented and dynamic from the day it was founded. Today it is Carinthia’s lead­ing edu­ca­tional and research insti­tu­tion. It opens its doors to the whole world and thrives on inter­cul­tur­al­ity and peo­ple whose minds know no frontiers.

In con­trast to the mass uni­ver­si­ties, the struc­ture and the man­age­able scale of the uni­ver­sity have pos­i­tive effects in many respects: on research and its organ­i­sa­tion, on teach­ing oper­a­tions and on inter­nal admin­is­tra­tion. These ben­e­fits are com­pounded by the spe­cific char­ac­ter of a gen­uine cam­pus uni­ver­sity. This com­pact struc­ture is of con­sid­er­able advan­tage for the organ­i­sa­tion of stu­dent life (lec­ture halls, library, refec­tory, stu­dent dorm etc) and for cross-​disciplinary research activities.

Teach­ing – shap­ing the trans­fer of kowledge

Teach­ing at the Alpen-​Adria-​Universität is char­ac­terised by top edu­ca­tional qual­ity, as is proven by the university’s reg­u­lar lead­ing posi­tions in inter­na­tional rank­ings. Teach­ers’ and stu­dents’ research activ­i­ties are always at the cut­ting edge, guar­an­tee­ing the university’s knowl­edge lead. “Uni­ver­si­tas mag­istro­rum et schol­ar­ium” — the unity of teach­ers and schol­ars, is a prin­ci­ple that is actively applied at the Alpen-​Adria-​Universität Kla­gen­furt. Small groups are a guar­an­tee of the best teach­ing sup­port, while the vari­ety of degree pro­grammes avail­able also means that a broad range of inter­ests can be cov­ered in the best pos­si­ble way.

Life­long learn­ing is the phi­los­o­phy and cor­ner­stone of the Alpen-​Adria– Uni­ver­sität. Bach­e­lors, mas­ters, diploma, sec­ondary school teacher accred­i­ta­tion, doc­toral pro­grammes and uni­ver­sity non-​degree pro­grammes or open pro­grammes for the keen and intel­lec­tu­ally active com­mu­ni­cate edu­ca­tion, train­ing and fur­ther train­ing at the high­est level and for a wide range of age groups.

Inter­na­tion­al­ism and the excel­lent sup­port dur­ing the degree course, even in the extremely pop­u­lar sub­jects of applied busi­ness admin­is­tra­tion, psy­chol­ogy, edu­ca­tion, jour­nal­ism and com­mu­ni­ca­tion sci­ence, make the Alpen-​Adria-​Universität an attrac­tive place to study for degree pro­gramme and non-​degree pro­gramme stu­dents alike.

Inter­na­tion­al­ism at the Alpen-​Adria-​Universität

The University’s inter­na­tional focus makes an impor­tant con­tri­bu­tion to the deter­mi­na­tion of the cre­ative poten­tial of the sci­ence pur­sued here. Con­tacts, exchange pro­grammes and coop­er­a­tion are the strat­egy key­words, paving the way researcher, teacher and stu­dent mobil­ity. With research and teach­ing pro­grammes attuned to the needs of the sit­u­a­tion in the Alps-​Adriatic region, inter­na­tion­al­i­sa­tion is a main point of focus.

The Alpen-​Adria-​Universität Kla­gen­furt is linked with uni­ver­si­ties around the globe by means of part­ner­ship agree­ments. Joint-​study pro­grammes are based on bilat­eral agree­ments with part­ner uni­ver­si­ties in Europe, the USA, Aus­tralia, Africa and Japan. One semes­ter schol­ar­ships are avail­able for the more suc­cess­ful stu­dents, while Ful­bright schol­ar­ships and pro­fes­sor­ships enable fur­ther exchanges with Amer­i­can universities.

Co-​operation activ­i­ties and bilat­eral agree­ments between uni­ver­si­ties are sup­ported by the EU through the Socrates and Eras­mus pro­grammes. Stu­dents are thus able to spend three to twelve months abroad, con­sol­i­dat­ing both their lan­guage skills and their spe­cial­ist knowl­edge, acquir­ing new per­spec­tives and gain­ing a new aware­ness of other cul­tures, a fur­ther ben­e­fit of a stay abroad. Stu­dents who wish to profit from inter­na­tional expe­ri­ence are sup­ported by the Inter­na­tional Office.

Research

The Alpen-​Adria-​Universität Kla­gen­furt regards itself as a cen­tre of research within the Alps-​Adriatic region, bring­ing together researchers from a vari­ety of dis­ci­plines and geo­graphic ter­ri­to­ries. The main research inter­ests are nat­u­rally aligned with the fac­ul­ties and dis­ci­plines, which are rep­re­sented at the Alpen-​Adria-​Universität Kla­gen­furt. The research car­ried out here can thus be assigned to the fol­low­ing key areas: “Cul­ture, Edu­ca­tion and Life”, “Eco­nom­ics, Organ­i­sa­tion and Sus­tain­abil­ity”, and “Tech­ni­cal Systems”.

The AAU actively pur­sues its stated objec­tive to fur­ther expand its vis­i­bil­ity and com­pet­i­tive­ness within the inter­na­tional sci­en­tific com­mu­nity, and to estab­lish a clear pro­file as a part­ner for coop­er­a­tion, both in national and inter­na­tional research net­works. One par­tic­u­lar area of focus lies in the inter­fac­ulty treat­ment of research top­ics. The Alpen-​Adria-​Universität counts the sheer breadth and diver­sity of knowl­edge, method­olo­gies and dis­ci­plines – con­tributed by researchers when jointly approach­ing research ques­tions – as one of its core strengths. Struc­tural clar­ity and short com­mu­ni­ca­tion paths fur­ther con­tribute to sup­port­ing these activities.

Research activ­i­ties are observed in a (self-)critical and con­struc­tive man­ner, using a sophis­ti­cated qual­ity man­age­ment sys­tem. This view pro­vides an impor­tant foun­da­tion for any fur­ther devel­op­ment in the research sphere.

Fur­ther­more, the Alpen-​Adria-​Universität also pro­vides sup­port to its researchers who are involved in prepar­ing project pro­pos­als for sub­mis­sion to highly com­pet­i­tive research pro­grammes such as FWF– or EU-​projects. Today, a sig­nif­i­cant share of the research work car­ried out here is financed through third-​party funding.

The main research areas of the AAU are also reflected in the level of par­tic­i­pa­tion in research projects with national and inter­na­tional part­ners. Here, the AAU’s inter­na­tional net­works extend far beyond the core area nes­tled within the Alps-​Adriatic region.